Porchfest organizers Owen Lyman-Schmidt, Ross Hoffman and Abe Taber in West Philadelphia | Photo by John Vettese for WXPN

Get your porches ready, people, because Porchfest is making a grand return to West Philly this summer on Saturday, June 3rd.

Porchfest organizer, Owen Lyman-Schmidt, first learned about the event concept when he accidentally took part in one in Massachusetts (for the full back story, click here.) After experiencing the incredible and lively community atmosphere, Lyman-Schmidt and his co-organizers knew they had to bring Porchfest to Philly.

As predicted, West Philly’s diverse, culture-rich neighborhoods provided the perfect landscape for Porchfest to thrive–and helped make 2016’s inaugural event a success. With one year under wraps, this second installment of Porchfest is sure to be bigger and even more jam-packed (pun most definitely intended.) Continue reading →

Porchfest organizers Owen Lyman-Schmidt, Ross Hoffman and Abe Taber in West Philadelphia | Photo by John Vettese for WXPN

Owen Lyman-Schmidt first learned about Porchfest by accident.

His band Driftwood Soldier was touring through New England when he got a message from a promoter in Somerville, Massachusetts. Their show was accidentally double-booked; it was the same day as something called Porchfest and the gig had to be called off. Lyman-Schmidt’s reaction: what the heck is Porchfest?

The promoter assured him that, don’t worry, we can still get you a gig that day as part of the event. And when Driftwood Soldier rolled into to town, what they found took them by surprise.

“It was amazing, we’d never seen anything like it before,” remembers Lyman-Schmidt. “We were just hanging out in the neighborhood beforehand and there were all of these crowds of people walking by. We were like ‘whats going on?’ And everyone was like ‘Don’t you know? It’s Porchfest! Isn’t that why you’re here?'”

The band played a show to a backyard filled with total strangers, people who just showed up because Porchfest was going on. Their reaction was simultaneously bowled away and ambitious. We need to bring this back to West Philly, they thought. We’ve got much better porches. Continue reading →

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Philadelphia: Home to a rich musical history, a unique musical identity, and one of the nation's most thriving musical communities. In a scene filled with so many local bands worth listening to, there will always be new music to discover—and The Key is your source for finding it. Brought to you by WXPN—the non-commercial public radio station that World Cafe, XPN2, and XPoNential Music Festival call home—The Key covers all local music in Greater Philly and beyond.GET IN TOUCH

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About The Key

Philadelphia: Home to a rich musical history, a unique musical identity, and one of the nation's most thriving musical communities. In a scene filled with so many local bands worth listening to, there will always be new music to discover—and The Key is your source for finding it. Brought to you by WXPN—the non-commercial public radio station that World Cafe, XPN2, and XPoNential Music Festival call home—The Key covers all local music in Greater Philly and beyond.GET IN TOUCH